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Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC V4.0, Open Access
Report
Reef-based mass coral larval culture and restoration methods
Southern Cross University
12/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/report.434
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Abstract
Accelerating losses of foundation reef-building coral communities caused by climate change induced mass bleaching and direct human impacts are degrading coral assemblages and ecosystem function on many reefs around the world. Widespread loss of adult breeding corals impairs reproductive success and significantly reduces natural larval supply and settlement processes that are essential for reef recovery. Reef-based coral spawn collection and mass larval rearing of millions of genetically diverse coral larvae have great potential to increase the scales and cost-effectiveness of restoring diverse coral populations and assemblages on damaged reefs that are not recovering naturally. However, methods for scaling up reef-based larval restoration and increasing the efficiency of larval production and larval supply to enhance settlement and recruitment outcomes on degraded reefs need further development. This Technical Report highlights recent developments of adaptable low-cost, reef-based coral larval restoration methods and new equipment that have been designed as part of the ‘Opticorals’ Paul G Allen Family Foundation (PGAFF) project to increase the effectiveness and scale of reefbased larval restoration. These methods involve five contiguous phases that follow the natural sexual reproductive cycles of broadcast spawning reef corals and consist of gravid coral checks, coral spawn collection, mass larval production in floating larval culture pools, larval settlement and deployment to enhance larval supply, and monitoring settlement, recruitment and recovery of corals on degraded reefs. These methods are now being scaled up through increased coral spawn collection and routine mass production of many millions of genetically diverse coral larvae and are being scaled out through capacity building training and knowledge transfer with diverse local and regional stakeholder groups in the Great Barrier Reef, Philippines and the Maldives. Reef-based larval restoration methods are increasingly cost-effective and scalable and combined with other innovative restoration approaches from research teams around the world are readily adaptable for use in larger-scale larval restoration projects on many degraded but recoverable reefs globally.
Details
- Title
- Reef-based mass coral larval culture and restoration methods
- Creators
- Peter L Harrison (Corresponding Author) - Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University; Lismore, Australia
- Number of pages
- 43
- Identifiers
- 991013243060802368
- Copyright
- © 2024 Southern Cross University. This Technical Report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Report